


Dead Men's Letters

by Unoriginal_Fangirl



Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: Assassin's Creed III, Assassin's Creed III Spoilers, Assassin's Creed: Rogue, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Canonical Character Death, Caring Haytham Kenway, Desmond Miles Needs a Hug, Established Relationship, Everyone Is Gay, Except Desmond's dad, Hurt No Comfort, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Letters, M/M, Minor Shaun Hastings/Desmond Miles, Not Beta Read, Out of Character, Possible Character Death, William Miles' A+ Parenting, but hes only mentioned once, most of the fic is just letters between shay & haytham tbh, so dont worry abt it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-19
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-07-08 22:00:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 1,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19876750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unoriginal_Fangirl/pseuds/Unoriginal_Fangirl
Summary: Connor finds a box of letters in Haytham's quarters after murdering him and decides to read them. Because that's what any sane man does after murdering their dad. Go through their stuff.





	1. 1764

**Author's Note:**

> All my fics are ooc for some characters but this is just me practicing writing and yall cant complain considering there are only 36ish fics in the shaytham collection that arent M/E rated :))))   
> Cmon i need my hyperfixation fueled yall

_ Four years. Five? Time isn't of much consequence at sea. Gist keeps telling me we are coming closer to our goal each day, but frankly, I don't see the difference. It doesn't matter where we look, it seems like it just disappeared off the face of the Earth.  _

_ You said it could take a lifetime, and I am starting to think you may be correct on this. Did you want me gone that much?  _

_ Don't answer that. _

_ I do wish it wouldn't take so long. It hurts me to admit that I would have rather stayed in New York. I understand this was something you needed someone trustworthy for, and Lord knows how little of those we have left in the colonies. Still, I can't help but wonder what it would have been like if I had been right there, at your side.  _


	2. 1770

_ Shay, _

_ If I didn't know better, I would beg you to return right about now. I do not know who there is left to trust here in the colonies. The man who raised me, who taught me our tenants and taught me to fight, was also the man who killed my father. He sold my sister into slavery all those years ago and I didn't know. The world is crumbling around me, and I don't know what I am to do anymore.  _

_ Of course, we cannot afford your return. We need that box as soon as possible. Who knows what the Assassins will do? Whichever of us may be right I do not know, but I do know I do not trust that device in their hands. Not after Antarctica.  _

_ I know you will find it. I trust you will. I trust you. Do not let me down, Shay. This is the closest to begging I will ever get. I haven't prayed since I was a child, but I pray for your safe return home. _


	3. 1776

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This ones s h o r t

_Haytham,_

_It is done. I won't be long still. My patience has run out years ago, and I believed I would never be done, yet I have it. I do hope you haven't found a wife to settle down with in my absence._


	4. 1778

_ Benjamin betrayed the Order. I fear he may not be the only one. Every time I look at the remaining men that I trusted more than twenty years ago, I wonder which of them will die or betray me next. My own son is killing my men in the name of the Assassins. I do not know how much time is left before he will come after me, and I can't help but hope he will be a better man than I ever had the chance of being.  _

_ He accused me of giving the order to kill his mother. Charles knew I knew Ziio. I'm certain it was Washington who gave the order, but Connor wouldn't listen even if I told him. _

_ It has been close to twenty years since you left, and I'm counting the days to your return. I do not know how long I have left. I'm working with him now, but who knows when he might change his mind? _

_ I just hope to see your face once more before the inevitable happens. The chance to hold you and take you to my bed would be a luxury I do not deserve, but hope I will have, even if just once more.  _

_ I know I do not need you, Shay, but by God do I want you. I want you here at my side right this moment. I pray you will be here before my son gives me the end I deserve. _

_ Yours eternally, _

_ Haytham _


	5. 1781

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cant not write ooc angst abt these two lmao

Connor put the letter back in the box. There were many letters in it. His father had seemed to have gotten his wish. Him and Shay hadn't even bothered to hide the evidence that there had been another in this room. It was useless, anyway. They couldn't have left the room much before he had fought and killed the Grand Master and the Morrigan's captain not soon after. 

There wasn't enough time to read every letter, at least not in the window of time he had before the Templars would return to the Fort. One letter, however, drew his attention. It didn't have an address on it, like it had been written here and placed on the pile only recently. 

Connor reached out, picked it up and folded it open.

_ It's quite useless to write this. Connor is probably after me by now. I'm not running, you know? I completed the task I could have spent the rest of my life on. The task I could have carried out, unaware of your death. Someone once said it helps to write a letter to the deceased. I never felt this desperate to find the deceased with Kesegowaase, Hope or Liam.  _

_ As of the time that I am writing this, you have been dead for less than a day. When I entered Fort George I was greeted with the sight of your body, Connor long gone. I buried you here. Charles will probably want to hold a large funeral, but I won't be there. I won't be mourned by anyone but my crew either. I prefer it this way, I think. My own private good-bye.  _

_ I miss you. I saw you barely a day ago, and yet it feels like I haven't seen you in twenty years.  _

_ Somewhere I had hoped we would grow old together, but I know if you knew, you would call it foolish. We were never meant to grow old, especially together. Maybe, in some other life it did happen. Maybe, in another life, we're in our sixties, at sea.  _

_ I can almost see your face in response to that, you know? _

_ I noticed you left the box with our letters for Connor to find. Maybe, someday, these letters will be read without contempt. Someday people might actually sympathize. Pity we won't be there to find whatever we are a normal thing. _

_ I hope that, after Connor inevitably finds me, that I will find you again. This can't be the end.  _

_ It won't be long. _

_ And for what it's worth, I'm sorry. _

_ I never should have stopped you from killing Achilles.  _

Connor folded the letter and placed it back in the box. He closed the lid, picked it up and took it back with him to the homestead, to read every last letter and the journal it contained.


	6. 2012

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for this ooc mess i have written desmond & shaun like once

Desmond sat up. Both his father and Rebecca were sleeping, and Shaun was close to falling asleep behind the computer.

"Why did you pull me out? We're almost there," he said.

"You spent _hours_ reading those letters, Desmond. We can't afford you suffering the bleeding effect now. Even if just for a little bit, you need to rest."

"I can't, Shaun!" Desmond hissed. "The world can't wait!"

"If there was no time, I wouldn't have gotten you out of there. I'm not sorry for worrying about your already fragile health, considering no one else does."

Desmond rubbed his eyes. "So, what happened to those letters Connor found?"

Shaun stood up and grabbed Desmond by the arm so they could walk a little, away from their small encampment. "The ones that stood the test of time are in archives. The ones not mentioning Templars or Assassins are currently being collected into a book, the ones that do are spread out across America in archives owned by both sides. I'm certain your family holds the most of them, your father just refuses to show you."

"Why?" Desmond asked, falling into step next to Shaun.

Shaun chuckled. "Your father is a homophobe, Des."

Desmond pulled his arm from Shaun's grasp and instead grabbed his hand. "I know. He's probably burned them all."

"I hope not. Those are priceless artefacts that somehow survived two-hundred years. To burn them now would be stupid."

"Shaun? If I don't make it out of here alive for some reason-"

"Don't. Don't talk like that."

Desmond moved a little closer to Shaun, pulling both of them to a halt. "I'm not saying it will happen, I just… Find those letters? I would do it myself, but in case I can't, I need to be sure they're not gathering dust in the darkest corner of South Dakota. If they're not destroyed already."

"Why wouldn't you survive this?" Shaun asked, close to desperate.

"Why would I? It can't be that easy. We can't just find the key and fix this without some form of sacrifice. We're talking about stopping the end of the world, here."

"Can't it, for once in our lives, be simple? I don't want to live without you for that long. You're too young to die now," Shaun begged.

Desmond grabbed him and pulled him into a hug, burying his face in Shaun's shoulder. "I would die if it meant the whole world's survival. I don't-I can't be selfish here, much as I want to."

Shaun's arms came up to hold him tightly. "Why does it have to be you?"

Desmond just sighed. "I don't know. Let's just get back to the Animus."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like to think desmonds dad sacrificed himself instead and shaun & des got married three years later lmao
> 
> They deserve happiness so why???


End file.
